Room For One More Troubled Soul
by WinterSky101
Summary: A mission goes wrong, but the Avengers and the Flock know that the best way to deal with that is to watch copious amounts of Disney movies. Third and final in "To Dust Or To Gold."


**The next installment of the adventures of the Flock and the Avengers! Updates after this point will probably be even more erratic than they have been; I don't have any more stories planned at the moment, although I probably will write more.**

**Title is from "Alone Together" by Fall Out Boy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride or the Avengers.**

* * *

"Max?"

Max crossed to open her bedroom door - it wasn't like she'd been asleep, despite the fact that it was nearly one o'clock in the morning - and found Angel and Gazzy outside her door. "Trouble sleeping?" she asked, knowing the answer. Both nodded.

"Can we come in?" Gazzy asked pitifully. Max gestured behind her to the bed. Both kids ran forward and leapt onto it.

"Your bed is bigger than mine," Angel complained, her voice mostly steady. Honestly, after what they'd been through, Max was surprised she sounded that composed.

The Flock had been captured by a group of scientists who thought they were going to be the next Itex. The Avengers had burst in and saved them within the day, but a few hours of being in dog crates was a few hours too many.

"I'm bigger than you," Max countered. Angel stuck her tongue out at her.

Nudge was the next one to tentatively knock on the door. "Come on in," Max stated, gesturing behind her. Nudge silently joined Angel and Gazzy on the bed. That, more than anything else, was a sign of how shaken she was.

"JARVIS?" Max asked as she closed the door, looking over at the huge TV she had in her room. "Do you have movies for that thing?"

_"I can access any movie you wish,"_ JARVIS replied. Max could get used to that sort of service.

"You guys want to get J to set up a movie?" she asked. Angel, Gazzy, and Nudge promptly began throwing out movie choices and arguing over them.

_"Miss Ride?"_ JARVIS stated a moment later, pitched low enough that only Max could hear it over the kids' arguing.

"Yeah?" she asked in an equally quiet voice.

_"Nightmare alert in Mr. Iggy's room."_

"Shit," Max muttered. She had set up the nightmare alert with JARVIS back when the first moved into Stark Tower. If any of the Flock showed signs of a nightmare - an increased heart rate, tossing and turning, or talking in their sleep - JARVIS would tell her. She should have expected one, all things considered.

"I'll be right back," Max called to the kids, slipping out of her room and making her way down the hall to Iggy's. When the Avengers had rescued them, he'd been strapped down to an operating table. She _really_ should have expected him to have a nightmare after that.

Although she knew Iggy always locked his door, the knob turned easily under her hand; she assumed that was thanks to JARVIS. Iggy was stock-still on the bed, letting out occasional panicked whimpers. As Max slowly approached, she could hear his harsh breathing.

"Iggy?" she asked cautiously. She had learned years ago that touching any member of the Flock to wake them up was a bad idea; it had only taken one broken nose for that lesson to sink in. "Iggy, wake up."

Iggy showed no signs of hearing her. Max sat down on the edge of the bed, the mattress shifting slightly under her weight. "Ig, you're in Stark Tower. You're with us. Wake up, come on."

There was no response. Clearly, being gentle wasn't working. "Iggy!" Max snapped. "Up and at 'em!"

Immediately, Iggy's eyes snapped open, his wings flaring out to either side. "Easy," Max soothed quickly, reaching out and taking his hand. "You're okay. You're in Stark Tower."

"I-" Iggy's voice broke. "How did you…?"

"JARVIS," Max answered, shrugging. Seeing that Iggy was still trembling, she drew him into her arms, rubbing his back between wings. "It was just a dream," she whispered.

"Yeah, except it wasn't," Iggy muttered bitterly. "It was a memory." Max couldn't help but wince; those were always worse.

"What memory?" she asked quietly. Iggy huffed.

"What memory do you _think_?" he shot back. Max nodded slowly. Of course she knew.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Iggy never really had before, but she had made it clear that, as little as she liked most touchy-feely stuff, she was always there for something like this.

"No," Iggy replied shortly. Max shrugged.

"Fair enough. Come on, the kids are in my room. Join us. We can pop into Fang's room and grab him on the way."

_"Miss Ride, Mr. Fang is not in his room,"_ JARVIS piped in helpfully. Max frowned.

"Then where is he?"

_"He is currently in training room C, along with Captain Rogers,"_ JARVIS replied. Max turned to Iggy.

"I'll drop you off in my room on my way to get him," she told him. "The kids need someone in there to make sure they don't kill each other over which movie we pick."

"Alright," Iggy replied, standing. Max reached for his hand and wove her fingers through his. She didn't need to - Iggy had figured out the majority of the layout of Stark Tower already, and JARVIS was always there to help if he needed it - but all things considered, she thought some physical comfort would be nice for both of them. Iggy gave her hand a gentle squeeze as they left his room.

Iggy immediately joined in on the arguing in Max's room - so much for him being an adult - and Max continued on to training room C. She could hear grunts and huffs as she opened the door to reveal Fang sparring with Steve, the two of them trading blows quickly and efficiently.

"Nice bout," she complimented when they finally pulled apart, both sweating. Fang looked up but didn't say anything, sweeping his hair out of his eyes. "Fang, the kids are getting set up for a movie in my room. Wanna join?"

"I think Tony was planning on doing a movie night when he finished up in his lab," Steve piped in. Max raised an eyebrow.

"At" - she checked her watch - "half past one in the morning?"

Steve shrugged. "We all have weird sleeping schedules. I don't think anyone's asleep. If you wanna join us, everyone would love to have you there."

"I'll ask the kids," Max replied evasively. "Fang?"

"I'll be there in a minute," Fang replied, unwrapping the tape from around his knuckles and pulling off his sweat-soaked t-shirt. Steve offered Max a slightly awkward smile as Fang slipped off into the corner.

"How's everyone doing?" he asked. Max shrugged.

"As well as could be expected," she replied shortly. She trusted the Avengers, she really did, but after what had happened, she was feeling more guarded than usual. She knew she could trust the Flock, but other than that… Well, she couldn't be one hundred percent sure, and anything less than that wasn't good enough.

"Sorry we didn't get there soon," Steve apologized. "It took longer than expected to figure out where you guys were."

"You got us out faster than we would have gotten ourselves out," Max replied honestly. Steve didn't seem to know how to respond to that.

"How's Iggy? They didn't do anything to him, did they?"

"Nothing this time," Max replied in a clipped tone. Steve winced at the implication.

"Max," Fang stated simply, materializing at her side. Max nodded at him.

"If you want to join us for movie night, feel free," Steve offered. Max nodded before leaving with Fang.

"What do you think about a movie night with the Avengers?" Max asked under her breath as they walked down the hall. Fang shrugged, eloquent as always.

"Ask the kids," he replied. Max knew that he would be tense all night either way, but to be honest, so would she.

An enormous pillow fight was raging in Max's room when she returned; Iggy apparently hadn't even bothered to _pretend_ to be an adult, considering he was swinging a huge pillow at Angel's face.

"Hey guys!" Max called out. Everyone immediately froze, pillows in the air. "First, Ig, _great_ job being in charge in here."

"Angel started it!" Iggy protested. "This was self-defense."

"I didn't start it! Nudge did!" Angel cried. Max jumped in before Nudge could start talking.

"I don't care who started it. Honestly, as long as no one gets hurt, have pillow fights. I don't care. Second thing, the Avengers are having an early-morning movie night and wanna know if we wanna join in with them."

"What are they gonna watch?" Gazzy asked suspiciously. "Something boring and grown-up?"

"I don't think they're able to do anything boring and grown-up," Max replied wryly. "And I think we could be part of the movie decision. What were you guys thinking of watching?"

"I wanna watch _Brave_!" Angel cried immediately.

"If you could change your fate, _would you_?" Gazzy immediately asked in a terrible Scottish accent. Max gave him a look.

"Your mimicry powers mean you have absolutely no excuse for how horrible that was," she scolded. Gazzy beamed innocently up at her.

_"Hey, anyone in there wanna join in on our Disney marathon?"_ Tony's voice suddenly called over the speakers. Max looked questioningly at the Flock.

"Do you?" she asked. Immediately, she was almost stampeded as Nudge and Angel raced to the door, closely followed by Gazzy.

"We're on our way," Max stated loudly, hoping JARVIS would know to transmit it to Tony.

Angel and Gazzy fell asleep during the second movie, and Nudge fell asleep during the fourth. Iggy steadfastly stayed awake, not that Max could blame him. As for the Avengers, Bruce drifted in and out of sleep the entire time, while Thor eagerly watched every movie, asking questions every so often. Max leaned against Fang, feeling a lot less tense than she thought she would.

Perhaps - and she wouldn't bet money on this, but that was partially because she had no money to bet - the Avengers really could be trusted. Max wouldn't declare anything definitively, but it definitely seemed like things were working out.


End file.
